Earlier this morning, Premier Kathleen Wynne held a press conference at the Leslie Street Loblaws to kick-off beer sales in Ontario grocers. The launch, which will see 60 grocery stores across the province commence beer sales in the lead-up to Christmas, is part of a program initially outlined in the Beer Framework Agreement (450 grocery stores in Ontario will be selling beer by 2018).

While the new agreement stipulated that at least 20 per cent of beer shelf space in grocery stores must be reserved for small brewers, Loblaws says they will commit a full 50 per cent to supporting Ontario craft beer. They will also provide additional opportunities for regional favourites on a store-by-store basis. The rest of the shelf space is, of course, being reserved for larger brands like Molson and Labatt.